Friday, May 31, 2013

Do you know what this is? A brand spankin new T shirt hubby bought today!! His excuse. We want to support our local stores, this fella could use our support. OK, we were there to buy more plants since hubby did a HUGE no no to my garden. I would think two trips to this local general store in the last month should have been enough! BTW the store opened in 1890. Hubby won.

Hard to see from this photo but hubby tilled under 3 rows in my garden last night.

Me - yelling out the kitchen window "What the heck are you doing?" or words sorta like that

Him - turning under the weeds on these three rows.

Me - Row number 1 was yellow onion bulbs, row two was green beans, row three was okra

Him - didn't look like anything to me

Me - did you notice I had a beginning and end stake on each row?

Him - Ya, why did you put those stakes there? I needed them for tomatoes

Me - You ain't worth shooting, grrrrrr

How can I not forgive him since the grands love him so

Off to replant the three rows in the garden that hubby plowed under. He HATES Brussels sprouts. I will be putting in 6 plants. That should show him don't you think?

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Here are hubby's T shirts before I had him declutter last night. That's 93 T shirts in all ladies!!

Yep my man has a thing for T shirts.

38 polo shirts before decluttering. Way more than any one man should need.

His winter clothes and coats after decluttering, grr. It's hard to see but these are double hanging closets, the coats on the bottom don't show up well. Wanta take a guess at how many denim shirts he has? Our girls say 1 denim shirt is too many. Hubby has 19 left after decluttering. sigh

He made a big dent in his polo shirts last night but not nearly as well on the durn T shirts. From this closet alone I took 2 garbage bags of shirts to Goodwill this morning. What the heck it's a start.

Tonight's homework for hubby is to declutter his dress clothes and slacks. I moved them all over to his side of the bed so he can't crawl in until the job is done. He tried to sweet talk me this morning with a promise to cut down an apple tree that is dead as a door nail, not a pretty sight in the back yard. I'm gonna take him up on the tree removal but I won't let up on the decluttering. It's not often I have him around the house for this many weeks. It's now or never. Last night he reminded me when he retires in just three short years (crap) we will have all the time in the world to declutter, we should just wait until then. Good try but I'm not buying into it!

Once He is finished with his closets I will have a go at them when he is not around. I know for a fact there are shirts with holes in them that he snuck back in. If you have been following this blog for very long you might remember I made hubby a Harley T shirt quilt with 45 shirts in it last year or the year before. I have threatened him with a kitchen boycott if he doesn't give up his Harley T shirt addiction. Wonder if my man will be the only one wheeled into the nursing home wearing a Harley Tee? grr

Kara is down for a nap (thank you Lord) Hubby is meeting with a sleep specialist ( HUGE thank you Lord) AJ the beagle is snoring on the couch. Life is good!!!

I'm headed to the kitchen to make Gill's Strawberry-Banana Bread for desert tonight, yum!! I need to use up more of our canned/dehydrated food from last summer before the canning for this year gets going again. Supper tonight

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Ahh to have a full day at home with no interruptions for some elbow grease cleaning. While checking the mail I noticed our peony plant was blooming, aren't they pretty?

The ongoing project for this week is to sort out hubby's closets. His homework tonight is to see what fits, he will still wear, or needs mending in his dress and business casual clothes now that he will be in the office for a few month's. I have to take this project in baby steps as hubby HATES sorting out his closet! Ha

Most of today was spent with the little ones. DD#1 was volunteering in her old school for end of year testing, DD#3 had some errands and appointments to take care of. Being the smart Nanny that I am I went to DD#1 house for a change. I want my CLEAN floors to stay that way for at least 48 hours.

Here is Karsyn's play area, (sometimes she will share with the boy's). Mommy and Daddy will be building it in with a walkway, wood chips and all this fall as they too have spent more than they should on spring fixer uppers. The tree by her house is a Crepe Myrtle Papaw and I had planted for her. Want to look around DD#1's playroom? It's fun to sometimes see how other Mommy's do the playrooms.

How cute is this growth chart? It's a 1 x 10 board hubby bought for DD#1 and added a hanger to the back. She them stained it, added rub on numbers and used a Sharpe to make the marks so it would look like an old fashion wooden ruler. Our only 6 year old Tyler is already 5 feet tall!! He is going to be one BIG young man!

Mommy #1 is a teacher, she was born a teacher!! All around the house she has learning charts and such for the kiddo's (even in the powder room just in case you don't know your shapes) The 3 clocks on the wall are set for the time each of her babies were born. Slack a.. Nanny still needs to cut out vinyl letters to put their names on each clock.

The downstairs playroom is really the living room just inside the front door. The room is way too small to be a real living room, more like a sitting area if you ask me. It's the perfect size for a playroom, the french doors are an added bonus as they keep the noise level down. DD#1 is an English/Language arts Master teacher. No room would be complete without a table chairs and of course a place for favorite books. She rotates books on and off the shelves to keep the kids interested in whats on display.

﻿The shelving unit came from Ikea , love that store!! They will put a TV in the large opening when the kiddo's are older so they can use it as a chill room.

I was at DD#1 home by 7:45 this morning ready to take on the toddlers. I took along my hexi bag for some sewing time on the back porch in this beautiful weather. Well that didn't happen I can tell you!! All three of the toddlers were having no part in naps today. One of the MANY perks of being a Nanny and Papaw is we can leave the little darlings, tired and dirty for the Mommy's to deal with later in the day. Have you ever tried to wrestle 3 toddlers and get them in beds when the weather is so nice? This old gal is way to old for that crap, I figured I would let them go until they dropped (didn't happen)

Home sweet home again. Today is bathroom cleaning day followed by mowing the lawn. After dinner tonight I can enjoy watching hubby do the weed eating as I sit on the deck with my feet up. AHHH to have him home for awhile (for the most part) Dinner tonight is pork chops with the rest of the leftovers from Monday's dinner. Homemade ice cream and fresh strawberries for a late night snack before hitting the sack where I will spend most of my night kicking or poking hubby to STOP snoring!! That is something I didn't miss!!!

I don't care what the experts and media says I LOVE being a home maker and I'm proud to tell the world

Monday, May 27, 2013

I can't think of a better way to spend a day all to myself than making Karsyn's picnic quilt.

Keep it simple stupid was the name of the game today. I cut the cheater panel into 10 inch blocks then added coordinating prints from my stash. After adding two borders (also from the stash) she turned out to be a nice 55 X 55 inch quilt.

The outer border is leftover backing from a quilt I made last year. Hanging on to all that excess fabric sometimes comes in pretty handy. A friend had given me a bolt of yellow strip 60 inch wide all weather fabric a year or two back that I used for the backing. I pieced leftover batting from my batting stash "Use it up or do without". This is a total top to bottom quilt that only cost the $5.99 for the cheater panel.

I need to clean up loose threads and add a tag to the back tomorrow then she will be ready for lots of picnic's and tea parties for Karsyn and her little friends. I ordered another cheater panel tonight to make Kara a picnic quilt just like Karsyn's. While I was cutting I went ahead and did all the cutting for Kara's quilt. I have fears the grand boys are going to want one of their own now!

I put my meal plan for tonight together with ME in mind today. Bake potatoes (microwave), leftover crusty bread, and home made ice cream was all I had to prepare. I had beef steaks, shrimp, and tuna steaks ready for the grill along with cold beers for the boys when they returned home from their ride today. Easy Peasy.

I can tell you after a FULL day of piecing and FMQ I am ready to hit the sack.Tomorrow will be a CLEAN the house day. What a mess after all this grilling, cookout's, family, and friends since last Thursday. My floors are as sticky as waffle house! Ha

Sunday, May 26, 2013

I HATE when photo's don't post right!! How cute is this towel and pot holder Carla sent me? Thank you sew much Carla I love it

Along with the cute kitchen set I also received my Scrap Sister bundle from Carla. It's amazing out of all the fabric I have in my stash I don't have a single piece of anything she sent along. How cool is that! Now what to do, what to do, with all these new fabric scraps. Can't wait to have some playtime and figure it out.

Kara has been with us all week, my oh my what a busy girl. She is home with Mommy and Daddy today but not before a quick visit this morning to just say Hi to Nanny and Papaw. So sweet.

What would Memorial Day weekend be without a T-Ball game. Tyler had a LARGE cheering section of all his own yesterday.

I bought this panel last year, maybe the year before to make a picnic quilt with. Karsyn is all about using our picnic/beach quilt these days. Sew...This is on my "up next project". I hope to finish it in time for our beach week for her.

I think these scraps will work to create a simple but cute picnic quilt for sweet Karsyn.

We have had too many whirlwind busy days lately. I declared to everyone this morning I needed some time off. So far I have done the following to ensure some me time this afternoon

1.) Deck/yard cleaned up after cookout yesterday and into the night.

2.) Sheets and blankets washed and hanging on the line

3.) Two loads of grands clothes, shoes, and such washed, dried and ready to be returned home

4.) Leftovers from cookout yesterday split between the DD's and ourself and delivered by Kara and her parents.

The rest of the day is all mine!! I plan on cutting out the picnic quilt for Karsyn, maybe some piece work on her quilt followed by Hexie work this evening. Dinner is ready other than making rice, lots of various deserts for the Harley boys to snack on during the race so they should stay out of my hair.

Tomorrow is a club Harley ride that I may or may not go along on. Some alone time is sounding pretty good to me!!

Its been a very long hot day with more to do tomorrow but we are oh so close to the finish line. Just in time to start pulling weeds,grrrr

Hubby has a list a mile long that seems to keep growing. My list is almost complete. You might think it's because I am diligently working the plan. Na, it's so easy to move some of my stuff to hubby's list that I just can't help myself!

Tomorrow:

More yard/garden work

Begin baking/cooking for the weekend

Get the house cleaned for our weekend guests

Laundry

Maybe a grocery store run

Head count for Saturday's cookout is up to 18. DD#1 has her In-laws in for the weekend that might stop by for desert later in the day that's an additional 7 for desert. Please oh please don't let it rain!!!!

Do you have plans for Memorial Day weekend? Looks like we will just hang around the house eating and merry making, maybe a ride in the mountains Sunday while the race traffic isn't so darn bad. Lots and Lots of kitchen duty coming up for me.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Kara helped me finish up our "Won't You Be My Neighbor" Quilt yesterday. With help like hers I wouldn't get many quilts finished! Ha

I am loving this quilt that will be for our home. I used scraps for all of the houses, borders and binding. The backing and white sashing I did have to purchase but of course on SALE!!

Check out this video for the instructions to make one of your own. Jenny has TON"S of great tutorials for fast easy quilts.

I couldn't help myself this morning, I had to have just a little more play time with this quilt. I washed and dried it for the crinkle look I just love to pieces.

After Kara left yesterday I settled in on the couch to do the hand binding on our new quilt. We had clouds building over the lake that were looking very ugly so I turned on the weather channel.

My heart sank as I watched live feed of the tornado hitting Moore, OK. Hubby was in the garage rebuilding the motor on the lawn tractor, I made him come look at the footage. For the rest of the evening we were glued to the TV praying for the families and children in the path of this storm. Our hearts break for the loss of life, homes, business.....Yesterday, today, and always we are all neighbors. The families in OK need our prayers and help.

Here is one of our favorite charities, they are taking donations of any size for our neighbors in OK. There are so many places you can make a donation to help but please remember, give ONLY to reputable charities. Tragedies like this always bring out some of the worst in society that prey on the victims.

Monday, May 20, 2013

I just love it when an organizational plan/tool really works! Having this hexie To Go bag is working out great. I can grab the bag and go, on the deck, DD#1 home to babysit, hanging out with GF in the evening, or just sitting in the family room in my spare time.

I layed out the blocks I have been working on last night to see if I had enough variety to begin adding and additional row. Yep, this should do it. On to adding the green sashing to each block then putting it all together.

Plans for today have changed as we had some VERY heavy rain yesterday afternoon. Unless the sun comes out to dry the main garden there will be no planting today. Hubby will stay busy in the garage doing his thing. I plan on some pantry/freezer work, quilting, watching Kara (nap for us both) then on to a menu plan for next weekend.

We are FINALLY getting a handle on all of the yard work. I was able to get the lawn mowed, lots more trees pruned, and a plan of action on some of the problem areas out back. Once hubby arrived safely back home from bike week we moved the grands outdoor equipment around some so hopefully mowing will be a bit easier for me. Karsyn called last night to come over to play and sleep with us,Ha We were able to get out of the sleepover by promising she could come over today to see where we put her playhouse. If it doesn't meet Karsyn's standards she will let us know in a skinny minute.

Hubby is just as baffled as I am that we let 2 year olds tell us what to do. Never ever would be have let our own children boss us around like the grands tend to do. Maybe it's like Bill Crosby says of his own parents when they became grandparents. "They are just old people trying to get to heaven" HAA

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Between rain showers today I began planting in our raised beds. I decided to use the raised bed for different things this year in hopes that I am rotating correctly.Time will tell. Yellow squash in this bed.

Sweet potato's

Zucchini

Herb bed. Just realized I didn't take a photo of the carrot/jalapeno raised bed :(

﻿My evenings this week have been filled with Hexie blocks. It's nice to end the day with something that doesn't take any lifting or digging! Ha

It is AMAZING how much I can get done when none of the Grands are around!!! I love them to death but they do wear me out. Hubby and his Harley buddy's arrived safely yesterday at the Rally and thankfully didn't run into rain. Not sure they will be so lucky tomorrow as we have a 60% chance :( I hope the rain will hold off until I can get the lawn mowed for the second time this week, it's hard to keep up with it in the spring.

I have more planting to do as well tomorrow. This go round will be in the traditional garden close to the house. Corn, green peppers, onions and cucumbers are going in this area. The back garden is for tomato's. I have a few more things I might plant here and there later if there is enough room but for us these are the basics we eat on a daily bases year round.

Off for a little more yard planning. I want/need a bed for asparagus if hubby is up to it. A spot to transplant lavender as it has outgrown the area in the garden. Hopefully I didn't kill it all when I pruned it back. I also want to put in roses along one side of our house out front. When hubby is on the road that side of the house turns into a weedy mess. I am thinking a rose bed would be low maintenance and solve the problem. We have so many other projects still to finish not sure hubby will be in the mood to once again wrestle the tiller! Ha

Thursday, May 16, 2013

This is the pitiful shape the garden was in when hubby and I started. It had not been hit with the weed eater since last fall when hubby was home for a long weekend.

The herb bed was so overgrown the plants were choking each other out.

The little girls wanted so badly to help Papaw with the tilling and digging. Kara is pointing at me saying "Go Home Nanny" They like having Papaw all to themselves!

The girls helped me transplant some of the herbs into containers. The Mint looks like it will be fine.

The Thyme seems to be settling in OK.

Oop's the Mint again

Oregano might be a lost cause.

The back garden is now ready for Tomato plants.

The front garden will house all the rest. Lots of planting for me this weekend.

﻿Karsyn is such a Diva. "Push harder Karalee"

Ever part of my body is screaming STOP already!! Ha Hubby is also feeling the effects of all this hard labor, but ever so slowly we are getting things back in order. We are lucky that we live in a zone that has a long growing season but I don't think we will have any of our own home grown tomatoes for fathers Day dinner this year :(

All the work we have to catch up on is challenging enough, add these toddlers to the mix and it's survival of the fittest and that ain't us I can assure you!! The little ones keep running along as we can barely drag our old butts to the bed each night. Last night hubby couldn't take the heat one more night so the air conditioner went on. What a nice relief at the end of the day today. I really wanted to hold out until June 1st but it was 82 degrees in our room last night at midnight. That's just too crazy hot to get a good nights sleep.

Hubby is off tomorrow on the road trip to bike week. I decided it was just to much turmoil for the entire family for me to tag along. Walking around looking at Harley parts, chrome, and ladies mud wrestling is just not my cup of tea!!!

My weekend plans are to begin totaling up the damage done to the budget from the too many trips to the local home improvement store. I hope to get at least the raised beds planted as soon as I finish weeding the last two beds. I HAVE to finish the durn quilt that is still setting on the kitchen table and do some cleanup around the interior of the house. While hubby sits in his recliner each night I have been working on hexi blocks, it's nice to relax after a long day with some hand sewing for a change.

Is anyone else getting their garden in so late in the season? I hate that we missed out on cabbage and broccoli this year but all I can do is what I can do when I am the lone ranger so much of the time.

About Me

I am the original wife to Bob, Mother to our 3 Girls and Nanny to Tyler, Kara, Karsyn, Mason, and Blake.I love to sew, cook, save money, and Play with our grand babies. In the summer its all about the garden and preserving for the fall and winter (maybe a bit more sewing) Just a normal person on a normal day doing the normal things that God has blessed us with each day